ABA and Kitchen Public Relations Announce New Crisis Management Partnership

Washington, DC (November 11, 2015) – The American Bus Association (ABA) is announcing today a new partnership with the New York-based public relations and crisis management firm, Kitchen Public Relations (KPR). KPR is offering ABA members a comprehensive crisis management planning service, complete with detailed, customized response plans in the event of an accident or high-profile incident. As part of this partnership, KPR will provide a paid service to ABA's members who are looking to prepare thoroughly when reporters and the media are calling wanting answers or your company’s name is all over social media.

KPR has a strong track record in the industry of creating these plans as well as managing crisis situations for ABA members. While motorcoach accidents are rare, preparation is paramount. ABA and KPR believe that in today’s 24/7, 365 digital media environment, it’s essential that companies be ready, well in advance to mitigate the potential harmful damage to members’ hard-earned reputations and business success.

“The motorcoach industry is the safest form of surface transportation and each year bus companies provide more than 600 million passenger trips to thousands of destinations. Thankfully accidents are rare, but in today’s fast paced media world we now live in, motorcoach companies must be prepared and be ready to deal with the realities if something unforeseen happens,” said ABA President and CEO Peter J. Pantuso. “ABA’s new Crisis Management partnership with Kitchen Public Relations will build on the work ABA has done for the past several years and will continue to do, providing the highest level of crisis communication, media relations and reputation management and protection in the motorcoach, travel and tourism industry.”

"KPR's approach to crisis management, with an emphasis on advanced preparation, is entirely consistent with ABA's efforts to educate its membership about the importance of planning for a possible crisis situation," said David Norman, Managing Partner at KPR. "We are very grateful for the opportunity to work with ABA's members to develop customized plans to protect their reputation and business viability in the event of a crisis."

For more detailed information about this service, please contact David Norman at KPR at dnorman@kitchenpr.com or 212-687-8999 (office) or (917) 817-2395 (cell). Dan Ronan, ABA’s Senior Director of Communications, can be reached atdronan@buses.org or 202-218-7220 (office) or 469-583-7070 (cell).

About Kitchen Public Relations

Based in New York and founded in 1992, Kitchen Public Relations (KPR) is an award-winning corporate public relations and crisis communications firm that specializes in helping companies use media relations and social media to raise brand awareness and drive business results. Through a combination of strategic focus and tactical execution, KPR creates high-level media opportunities targeted to the constituencies and markets our clients want to reach. This approach creates visibility, visibility creates reputation, and reputation creates business opportunities and sales. KPR’s crisis management team has successfully protected the reputations of its clients in a host of industries including transportation, financial services and healthcare. To learn more, go to www.kitchenpr.com.

About the American Bus Association

The American Bus Association (ABA) is the trade organization of the intercity bus industry, with more than 1,000 motorcoach and tour company members in the United States and Canada. Its members operate charter, tour, regular route, airport express, special operations and contract services. Another 2,800 members are travel and tourism organizations and suppliers of bus products and services who work in partnership with the North American motorcoach industry.